Happy Pi Day ~ and for all of you who wonder where all these crazy posts and ideas and inspiration come from… well for the sake of my amusement, here’s something silly i ended up with tonight (blame the lack of sleep and insanity that is LA this week… also Linhchi brought me a sun jar and combine that with my vinyl cutter…. ) Naturally all the craziness that you see propagating across the network comes from somewhere! But where? My glowing jar full of NOTCOTs! (Whatever a NOTCOT may be, that, as surprising as it is to most, is still quite unknown). So for today’s random project, NOTCOTs are like fireflies, visual manifestations of all the crazy inspiration lighting us up?

Ok, so basically, Sun Jar+ Vinyl Cutter = Jar of NOTCOTs (and this will probably continue to evolve into other ideas…) Also, on Sun Jars, although i’ve gifted and recommended these solar powered glowing jars often, this is the first time i’ve been gifted one! And i must say for the next one i gift, i will ditch the packaging, personalize it in some subtle way for the recipient, and present it as simply the jar, with a beautiful ribbon to tie a notecard on. See more pics below! (also the dissection of my sun jar…)

The latest from one of our favorite designers, Alissia MT, are these beautiful glass Me-Rors which were produced by Charles & Marie. Coming in two versions, you can view yourself in a floating silhouette, or in a classic oval… either way, it is quite a trip to use a handheld mirror that has your reflection essentially floating as you hold it up to inspect yourself closely… An exciting surprise that showed up at my door last week were one of each of model! I was thrilled to see the packaging on these (and even more excited to share them with you in many pics below)… they come in a pretty simple Charles & Marie branded box, with a magnetic flap you lift and open it, exposing the me-rors embedded in flocked blackness and a playful intro message… take a look below!

Rahee Yoon is sticking it to the old adage that bigger is better. Rather than going for the largest carat, Rahee has created what she calls “the world’s thinnest ring” - out of a single sheet of paper. She designed two books around these rings - one with 25 different ring designs, and the other describing the processes to cut the rings out of the book. The result is conceptual, ephemeral jewelry. See more of her rings after the jump!

So, last week, in collaboration with HERO Design Lab, NOTCOT kicked off NOTConcept 001 with the brainstorming + sketches of what the future grill might look and function like. With input from readers and friends, we’re excited to show you Part 2, more detailed sketches focusing on a specific concept that has evolved from idea B1 (the hanging grill/pod idea) and C-series (the “smart fire jacks” idea). The result is this new series of concepts around modular heating elements for cooking, and the various housing they can adapt to… see all the ideas below!

Blame the Kindle for the extra quiet Monday as far as posts go. This unexpected new toy showed up on the doorstep this morning, and i’ve been a bit distracted since. In all honesty, as far as first impressions go… i LOVE the packaging and use of playful typography and book like packaging… as well as using the same patterns on the non-slip rubbery back of the kindle itself. As for using the actual Kindle to read books/newspapers/blogs/wikipedia… i was skeptical, never figured it was for me. But, i’m kind of hooked. Unlike the Zune experience, this worked like a breeze out of the box. Finds its connection, lets me scroll around, even give me a little intro/walkthrough as one of the first files to check out… and the readability of the screen is SO nice on the eyes… (i’m *this* close to getting a new macbook pro and ditching this current one to go back to a matte screen before they get rid of them all)… flipping pages is a such a nice gesture, and i’m in love with the mirrored little scroller squares. I know i’m a bit late to the game on this one, but check out the pics after the jump to see how nicely done the packaging is!

So far, i have impulse bought the new Sophie Kinsella book Remember Me (embarrassing as it is, i’ll admit it, i read a few of those Shopaholic books on the beach while on post-uni euro trips) to try out, and have been surprised how quickly i’ve been flying through the pages between working on the laptop today and taking calls on the pearl (this may be terrible for multitasking!)… i am also trying out the WSJ and NYTimes subscriptions, but so far it feels a bit too RSS like for my tastes, and i think newspapers are still most fun in print for me, but this is definitely nice to slip in the purse. And of course… i’ve browsed the NOTCOTs on the web browser, and while we’re not the best optimized for advanced kindle rendering… in default mode its not half bad! Also tried browsing gmail a little…. anyhow, check out the unboxing pics below, probably more to come on this new toy later…

Well, this is certainly unprecedented. I have received some very cool rather meta snail mail… from Germany! I chat with Johanna Krimmel via email, then send some NOTCOT Buttons in the mail ~ and then she sketches out a a picture of those buttons being opened on her laptop (yay, mac) down to the details of the air mail stamp, and snail mails me back! So to complete/continue the cycle i wonder if i need to now paint her a picture of me opening her envelope of her picture of my envelope…. etc etc etc you get the point. Or is posting it enough? Anyhow, this was a first, so thought you guys might liked to take a peek! More images below…

My random visual addiction for the weekend has been Nate Wragg’s illustrations ~ particularly his angry human hating Yetis. His illustration style is absolutely mesmerizing, and i can’t seem to stop staring at them! It should come as no surprise to you that he’s a Pixar guy ~ and worked on Ratatouille. Also awesome is this “USE TECHNOLOGY TO COLLECT THE WOMEN!” piece (close up and sketches after the jump of course), which is for his next installment of the “Ancient Book” series, which will be focusing on the themes of Sex and Science. See more close ups after the jump…

Click the tiny pics to find out more! Here is this weeks roundup full of roundups ~ showing you some of the most popular posts across NOTCOT.org, TasteSpotting, and NotCouture ~ click on to see these top 25 from each site after the jump!

NOTConcept: The Ultimate Grill Part 1. Well, we showed you some of our research on the many grills and induction implementations out there, and now for Part 1, we have 20 ideas to bounce off of you! Yes, those above are only three of 20 sketches that you can see fully after the jump. And those 20, are our favorites of even MORE that didn’t even make it off the sketchbook pages and into photoshop! Keep in mind these are the crazy first round of brainstorming types of sketches we start with, before we start to narrow things down based on tighter constraints… and we’re looking to have fun conceptually, so, don’t worry about trying to actually build any of these - tomorrow?

For a quick recap ~ NOTConcept is a new experimental collaboration between NOTCOT and HERO Design Lab, where we will run through ideas from research and extremely rough sketches to glossy renders in under 2 weeks per project… and document/share it all along the way. Reason? We love designing, and with so much inspiration daily, why not play with fun projects and exercise our design minds/skills outside of our usual client work?

SO ~ curious what we came up with? Take a look below, and help us decide what direction to take when we flesh out one of these ideas in the next post…

NOTConcept 001: The Ultimate Grill - [Research] [1: Idea Sketching] [2: Concept Dev] [3: 3D Renders]Introducing the first NOTConcept! This is the intro of a new NOTCOT Experiment where NOTCOT has teamed up with industrial design duo, Leo Corrales and Jenny Lemieux, of HERO Design Lab, to put some of the constant design/trend/inspiration curating across NOTCOT to good use… by flexing our design minds and skills and to bring readers further into the design process with us, we will be presenting 4 NOTConcepts in three parts each…

Each NOTConcept will start with a brief and some visual research (starting with a search across NOTCOT.com and NOTCOT.org, and making our way through the internet and real world) - for this premier project we look to design the ultimate portable grill/BBQ utilizing newer/future technologies.
1. The first post will show you various concept sketches, doodles, and ideas (which we’d love to have you weigh in on which direction interests you).
2. The second post will take one of the previous ideas and further research and flush out the concept.
3. The third post will consist of 3D renders of that concept.
(and all three steps will happen in under 2 weeks!)

Basically we wanted to find a fun way to put our skills together, and have some fun, like in our grad school days, and have an opportunity (or excuse?) to work on projects with minimal constraints - basically playing with those inspiring crazy ideas our clients never go for! So… to kick things off, want to see every interesting grill, bbq, induction piece i put together to inspire this first project? (GIANT collage after the jump!)

The Union Bench by swedish i do design. I wish they replaced public benches everywhere! And i’d love to have one in my courtyard/waiting room/etc. The outdoor model for this is made of concrete with wood seating, and the indoor version made of Glass Reinforced Plastic and finished with a comfortable leather cushioned seat and will be launching at this years Salone Satellite in Milan. I love that with no real front or back, and so many ways to sit on it (whether hanging off the edge, or straddling one of the in betweens)… its really created a unique communal yet private space, perfect for groups, loners, and even those with strollers to easily sit down and take a break. Take a look at further images in more situations, with no people, and of the different models… after the jump!

Pranna Timers ~ these incense meditation timers may not be the expected NOTCOT content, but when i received an email about these i was genuinely intrigued. “Using gravity instead of batteries, incense instead of circuits.” And the site had these beautiful handmade wooden contraptions that sit next to ancient singing bowls…

To further indulge my curiosity of a COMPLETELY technology free activity (timed meditation? or any other random timing you need once you perfectly calibrate how long it takes a certain length of incense to burn)… Pranna Timers sent one over, so here is the review - with close up shots of how exactly it does its thing, and a video of how it sounds as well! Check out your minute of zen below (please don’t mind the airplane noises that had to fly over right when i was filming it…)

“cool it, cool it, man, you’re being too literal. What you need is a lesson in abstract thinking… [wow. you are weird]… the funny thing about abstract thinking is you can’t get away from it… to get rid of an abstract thought you have to erase it by thinking backwards.” I don’t know about you, but that makes perfect sense to me. And remind me again, why don’t we have more television like old school Sesame Street anymore? If we make a NOTCOT show, i think we really need to head back in this direction.

Visual Thinking, i think it’s something that every design client needs! Check out the three videos embedded below for some enlightening…

On more fun 3am discoveries, Art Director, Justin Young’s PSA, The Journey, is a beautiful little video worth checking out that takes you on a little adventure about where your water comes from, and how much can be saved by simply turning off the water when you brush your teeth! (and he’s looking for work, if you want to help him out…) I’m loving the style and the pacing… see some of my favorite screenshots after the jump. View the video here.